


slices

by springsoldier (ladydaredevil)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pushing Daisies Fusion, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 10:29:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6750265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladydaredevil/pseuds/springsoldier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Barriss bakes pies and wakes the dead and Ahsoka is her alive-again childhood sweetheart.</p>
<p>(Pushing Daisies AU also featuring Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padmé as former synchronised swimmers)</p>
            </blockquote>





	slices

**Author's Note:**

> Today, in ‘AUs no one ever asked for’…  
> I want to say this is purely fluff but Barriss is still fucked up.  
> On time for SW Day and before I fall back down the Cap hole!

I.

Barriss starts the stopwatch.

Ahsoka, when she opens her eyes, looks startled. Given that the last thing she remembers is probably being murdered, the confusion is understandable.

“Barriss? Is that you? What--”

She sits up, taking in the coffin and the wreath of flowers. Her eyebrows climb higher.

“Hello, Ahsoka. It’s good to see you.”

“Yeah, you too. It’s been a while. Uh. This might sound crazy but -- Am I dead? Are _you_ dead?”

“Not at the moment, no. Do you remember who attacked you? Please tell me as much as you can.”

“Uh, no. Wait, attacked? Hang on, I – did someone choke me with a plastic bag while I was on vacation?”

“Well. Yes.”

“What the _fuck_. That’s such a lame way to go. Though at least I get to see you again, that’s pretty sweet I guess. I had the biggest crush on you when we were kids.”

“Oh.” Barriss can feel herself flushing. “Me too.”

Ahsoka smiles at her for a moment, before the questions come back.

“But you said we’re not dead? Is this some kind of weird coma dream?”

“It’s complicated. Can you – can you tell me anything about what you remember? We’re almost out of time.”

“Time? What time?”

Fifty seconds.

Ahsoka wouldn’t want this.

Fifty-five.

Ahsoka didn’t _ask_ to die so young.

Barriss takes a deep breath.

One minute.

“Oh, never mind,” she says.

Somewhere nearby, someone dies.

 

II.

Later, in Barriss’s pie shop:

“Pie? You used to want to be a doctor. Not that this isn’t amazing pie. Do you have key lime?”

“I tried. My gift made that – somewhat inconvenient.”

“Yeah, I guess it would. So you can – what, bring people back to life? By touching them? But how? That’s – that’s impossible.”

Barriss shrugs, keeps rolling her dough. Ahsoka rereads her obituary. It’s nice, as obituaries go.

“You were dead. Now you’re not. Isn’t this proof enough?”

“You have to admit it’s a _little_ hard to believe— “

Barriss sighs and taps a rotten strawberry. It turns fresh, red and juicy, under Ahsoka’s wide eyes.

She whistles her amazement.

“Alright. I believe you. So what’s the catch?”

Barriss pauses.

“Why would there be a catch?”

“Well, I don’t see you running around reviving people.”

“I try not to draw attention to myself.”

“How many people have you revived?”

“Permanently? Two.”

“Including me?”

“Yes.”

“Does it wear off?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Am I still going to age?”

“… Probably not.”

“Huh. Wait, what happens if I die again?”

“You’d stay dead. It’s a one-time thing.”

“What happens if you touch me again?”

Barriss freezes. Ahsoka reaches out, and she takes a startled step back.

“Don’t! You’d die.”

“For good this time.”

“Yes.”

Ahsoka looks genuinely disappointed. Barriss tries not to think about what that does to her stomach.

“That’s too bad. Anything else I should know”

_Yes._

“No, I think that covers it.”

 

III.

Luminara does not approve.

“What were you _thinking_?”

“I wasn’t. I was surprised to see her, and I lost track of time, that’s all.”

“Don’t lie to me, Barriss. You never lose track of anything.”

(Luminara died when Barriss was nine.

Now they share an apartment and a pie shop.

It’s a good thing they’d never been the hugging type.)

“I did the same for you.”

“Yes, but that was _before_ you knew the consequences.”

_I still would have done it_ , she doesn’t say

Luminara knows.

“You have to tell her, it’s the least you can do.”

“And what would that accomplish other than making her upset?”

Luminara sighs.

“She _will_ figure it out sooner or later. She’s not an idiot.”

 

IV. 

Ahsoka paces, angry.

“What do you _mean_ I can’t go home?!”

“You’re dead.”

“Clearly I’m not.”

“No one can know about this.”

_You can’t leave me again_ , Barriss thinks, even though it’s – wrong.

“Let me at least get my stuff! It’s not like they’ll notice it’s gone!”

Barriss has to admit it’s a fair concession.

“Alright, if you _have_ to. But I’m going with you.”

 

V.

The door opens.

“Excuse me? I’m – My name is Barriss Offee, and I – I was a friend of Ahsoka’s. It was a long time ago but I heard about – what happened. On the news. And I thought – I brought pie.”

She holds the carefully put-together package in front of her like a shield. Apple pie, because everyone likes apple pie.

Mr. Kenobi looks much older than she remembered him to be. And tired. Very, very tired. But he manages to conjure up a smile for her nonetheless.

“Barriss? Oh yes, I remember. Your mother was a good friend. Come in, come in.”

“Who is it?”

Mr. Skywalker seems much less pleased to have a visitor.

“An old friend of Ahsoka’s.”

“I don’t want to see anyone.”

“Don’t be rude, now.”

Barriss sits with them in the big, dark house, staring absently at the trophies and pictures lining the walls.

They’re barely recognisable, wrapped in bathrobes and grinning at each other, a young Ahsoka perched on Mr. Skywalker’s shoulders.

A happy family.

Mr. Kenobi serves them tea and pie and attempts to make polite conversation.

“I’m sure Padmé will be sorry to have missed you,” Mr. Kenobi says to Barriss. “She’s – looking into something. Ahsoka’s body disappeared, you know.”

Mr. Skywalker’s fists clench.

“It was stolen, you mean.”

Barriss flinches. It feels wrong, not telling them. But --

“You’ll have to forgive Anakin.” Mr. Kenobi sighs, and takes a sip of his tea. “He and Ahsoka were close.”

His voice breaks a little on the last word.

Barriss squeezes her eyes shut, feeling the understatement. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.”

Upstairs, Ahsoka trips over something.

 

VI.

Tearful reunions and some screaming later, the living room is a lot brighter. Mostly because Ms. Amidala threw open the curtains when she came back, scolding the two men about sitting around in the dark like it would change anything.

That was before she saw Ahsoka. They hadn’t wanted to tell her over the phone, not when they could hardly believe it themselves.

Now Ahsoka is pressed between all three of them on the couch, looking brighter than Barriss has ever seen her.

It’s nice. 

Barriss does not think about Luminara.

Ms. Amidala is the one who remembers Barriss’s existence first, once they’re done talking over each other and hugging and crying.

“I don’t know how you did it, and frankly, I don’t care. Thank you.”

 

VII.

Barriss leaves on her own. They ask if she would like to spend the night, maybe, because it’s getting late, but she has pies to bake.

Luminara is washing dishes in the kitchen when she gets back. She takes one look at her face and shakes her head, sends her to bed like she used to when Barriss was a child.

_You can’t make people stay, Barriss,_ Luminara doesn’t say.

She hears it anyway.

 

VIII.

Ahsoka shows up at the shop two weeks later.

She has a lot of bags.

“I managed to convince them to come out of retirement”, she explains. They’re going to be training all the time and then they’re going on tour. I don’t want to stay alone at the house, so...”

She shrugs.

“Besides, I figured it was time for me to move out.”

Barriss blinks, unsure what to make of that.

Ahsoka looks down at her stuff, seeming to realise she probably should’ve called ahead.

“I mean, if you and Luminara want an extra roommate. And is there somewhere I could put my bees? You could use the honey for the pies. If you want.”

Sharing her space with _two_ people she might accidentally kill again with a touch should, by all means, be very stressful.

They manage. Barriss wears a lot of layers.

Ahsoka eats all the key lime pie.

 

IX.

It takes Ahsoka three days to come up with the plastic wrap kiss.

Barriss wants to protest, because it’s hardly _safe_ , but --

Well, maybe they can discuss it later.

 

X.

Ahsoka can’t bake to save her second life but the clients like her. Especially Mr. Rex, the private investigator who always gets strawberry-rhubarb. Barriss is almost certain he knows that Ahsoka died.

“Hey, what if you used your gift to help him with his cases?” Ahsoka asks one night, eyes shining with anticipation.

“Out of the question.”

“Come on, it’d be fun!”

A week later they’re standing in the local morgue.

“You have one minute,” Barriss tells Mr. Rex.

 

XI 

Their first date, other than hanging out at the shop after hours, is the Queen & Handmaiden / Open Circle Synchronised Swimming Double Feature.

Barriss knows nothing whatsoever about synchronised swimming.

Thankfully, Ahsoka provides running commentary.

“See, they were the _best_ before Anakin’s accident. Well, you saw all the trophies. Then they had to retire. But he has a this really cool prosthetic now. He complains about it but I’m pretty sure it’s just an excuse because he’s getting old,” she says.

She whistles and shouts when the duo is done, and they grin back at her before settling back to watch Ms. Amidala and her team take over.

“When I was a kid I could never tell Padmé and Aunt Sabé apart when they were in makeup,” Ahsoka says.

Barriss can’t tell any of them apart now. As far as she’s concerned, all eight of them could be sisters. Ms. Amidala is the only one who stands out, her costume different from the others.

“Oh, look at that! They’ve still got it!”

It looks nice, Barriss supposes.

Mostly it makes Ahsoka look very alive.

 

XII.

Ahsoka leaves when she learns the truth about Barriss’s curse.

Luminara holds her hand through a rubber glove, makes her tea.

Doesn’t say _I told you so_.

 

XIII.

Six months later, Ahsoka comes back.

She looks older. Not physically, no, but there’s something in her eyes that wasn’t there before. Barriss stops mid-word and Mr. Rex turns around to see what’s surprised her.

 He smiles, pats Barriss’s hand and makes a discreet exit, taking what’s left of his pie with him.

Ahsoka stops in front of her, eyes steely with resolve.

“This doesn’t mean I’m okay with it. It’s not okay and if you ever do it again I’m out, but – I missed you.”

Barriss nods. She thinks she might cry; any words she wants to say get caught down her throat. She gets started on an extra key lime pie instead.

Ahsoka smiles, and leans over the counter to add plastic wrap to the shopping list.


End file.
